The present invention relates to a cooling apparatus for cooling a fluid by water through a heat exchanger and a temperature control method therefor. This cooling apparatus is suitable, not exclusively, for cooling a large-scale computer.
A conventional cooling apparatus of this type includes a heat exchanger for performing heat exchange between cooling water and a high-temperature fluid, and a flow rate regulator valve for regulating a flow rate of the fluid passing through the heat exchanger. Opening degree of the flow rate regulator valve is controlled in accordance with a difference between a temperature of the fluid after having been cooled and a preset temperature of the same. In the conventional art, however, control of the flow rate regulator valve is performed in a fixed manner regardless of the magnitude of a temperature or a flow rate of the cooling water. As a result, the temperature and the flow rate of the cooling water for performing required cooling are limited within certain ranges, and if the temperature or the flow rate of the cooling water is changed, the stability of temperature control of the fluid is deteriorated.
Such a conventional cooling apparatus is shown, for example, in the book entitled "High-Temperature Water Heating" (written by Uichi Inoue, edited by Air Conditioning and Sanitary Engineering Institute, published from Maruzen Co., Ltd. on Jul. 30, 1968), pp. 80-81, FIGS. 5 and 7.